Some of My Favorite Short Story Collections & Authors

[Linda2]

We will have read all the major works by 2090.

[Everyman]

Whatever the dates may be, the short stories of Trollope fall squarely within this group's purview. When I'm in a short story mood, I often pick up Anthony Trollope: The Complete Shorter Fiction edited by Julian Thompson. What's not to love?

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.), Founder]

Everyman wrote: "Whatever the dates may be, the short stories of Trollope fall squarely within this group's purview. When I'm in a short story mood, I often pick up Anthony Trollope: The Complete Shorter Fiction ed..."

Thanks for the tip, Everyman! I don't know that I realized that Trollope had a collection of short fiction. I shall look for the collection you've referenced. Cheers!

[Linda2]

I just received my copy of Collected Stories of Grace Paley, one of the best contemporary short story writers. Have to find a group in which to discuss them. LOL.

[Louise]

I was pleasantly surprised by , which I found on Gutenberg.org

[Gyoza]

I have liked Maupassant's, Edgar Allan Poe's, and O. Henry's short stories for a long time. I also recently started reading Stefan Zweig and he's a new favorite of mine for short stories and novellas.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

One of my favourites is H.H. Munro, usually known as Saki. There is always a little twist and the characters can be delightfully wicked at times.

[aDystoPianClassic]

Whenever I am in mood for a short story, I start reading one of the stories by Ruskin Bond... So many to choose from and each story a gem.. And a lot of stories filled with childhood spunk and innocence!

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I like the short stories of Saki.

[Jonathan]

Funyon wrote: "Oh, and I love Sherlock Holmes too. I read all the books in the serie."

I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories. I became so addicted that I read them straight through over a few weeks. I could not put them down.

[Everyman]

Rosemarie wrote: "I like the short stories of Saki."

Saki is wonderful.

I also greatly enjoy John Mortimer (Rumpole). Both Trollope and Hardy have some excellent short stories.

[Rafael]

I have not read many short stories collections, but a good one was a brazilian selection of short stories by Poe. Contos de Terror, de Mistério e de Morte.

[Mystic Orange]

Well it is hard to tell if you think something is a short story. How many pages does a small story meant to be?

[Linda2]

Rumell wrote: "Well it is hard to tell if you think something is a short story. How many pages does a small story meant to be?"

Maybe 10-50 pages, not just about size but also content. It might just revolve around one incident or a series of connected incidents over a short period of time, and usually can be read in one sitting. It has a tighter structure and fewer characters than a novel or novella. It's a good way to introduce yourself to new authors, or to read when you don't want to get deeply involved in a novel.

I have a number of collections edited by well-known writers. Here are some in my book list:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I also have some older ones, ghost stories by Wharton, and that same Poe collection in English, but I've outgrown Poe.

Here we sometimes read a short story by the same author whose novel we're reading.

[Mystic Orange]

I understand. I think it isn't that logical to tell if something is a short-story.

[Deborah, Moderator]

What is a short story

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_s...

[Rafael]

Font size and the size of the pages matter so the most used definition to label short stories, novella, novel etc is the number of words.

Flash Fiction: 50 - 1,000 words
Short Stories: 1,001 - 7,500
Novellettes: 7,501 - 17,000
Novellas: 17,001 - 40,000
Novels: 40,000 + words

https://annerallen.com/2018/06/novell...

[Linda2]

...roughly, and with exceptions.

What's Flash Fiction? It appears on the monitor and then deletes itself? A single sentence written in text-speak?

We don't generally differentiate between novelettes and novellas.

[Abigail]

Flash fiction: It's ultrashort fiction, usually only a page or two. Often surprisingly impactful. I read one once about a woman who had a car accident that left her trapped in her car in a tree for days--the entire experience told in a page and a half!

Though as for the other numbers, I would consider anything under 80,000 words too short to be considered a novel!